I know my words will ring true with many of you in that during these darker days it’s in some ways easier to be grateful for the simple things in our lives. For example, Covid-19 is teaching us to no longer take for granted the way in which we breathe with strong lungs, the ‘perfection’ of good health as opposed to a perfect body or even the simple way in which we use our senses to take in information throughout the day. The bright and joyful taste of a juicy orange or the smell of homemade cookies, hot out of the oven, affect and feed our human experience in the most basic and important of ways. From what we have seen with the devastation of this virus is that many of these simple bodily functions become very challenging, to say the least.
With such widespread political and social unrest around us, we are also fortunately learning to hold our loved ones a little tighter, cherish our relationships both near and far, express gratitude for the work and jobs we have, and perhaps lean into the overall human experience with more empathy and compassion than we have been doing.
Have you been on an international trip lately? I have not. Well, perhaps you too are fondly remembering the days when you could jump on an airplane whenever you wanted to and how that luxury and freedom of travel enriched your life. Have your sports teams or agility courses outside of school had to cancel their lessons too? Well, won’t it be wonderful when we can all get out there and run together again.
What remains? Well, many things have. Perhaps the light from the few possibilities is stronger now, flashing boldly against a dark world rather than having to compete in an overcrowded, neon-lit Times Square, ceaselessly working 24 hours of every day. In fact, perhaps it is easier to be thankful now for what we all have and let’s hope that when our other freedoms do return we will never forget to be grateful for the simple stuff again.
On this year’s Thanksgiving, I won’t be doing the big 24-person seated dinner party to inaugurate the new kitchen as last year, nor have I been cooking and preparing for weeks in advance as before. No, but I have got my heart set on one homemade pumpkin pie for my son Cesare, made with the small sweet, green-skinned Delica pumpkins from the Italian city Mantova, and I’ll be sure to whip up my husband’s favorite mashed potatoes in hopes he’ll give me another big ‘mashed potato-thank you kiss.’ I’ll pull out my Aunt Kitty’s hand-written recipe for sweet potatoes for the memories and, rather than bother with another big turkey (last year’s was the size of an ostrich, if you hadn’t followed along with our posts), perhaps I will roast a chicken and call it a day. There will be other years to go to all that trouble because the preparations for Thanksgiving are just as important as the holiday itself in my mind, but I’m choosing to take a pass this time around in order to keep it simple and low stress. To be honest with you, our three-month old Golden Retriever is enough to handle on top of everything else and so I think we’ll just embrace the moment for what it is- overflowing!
Happy Thanksgiving from our family in Italy to yours!
*photos by Massimo Delbo
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